the art of iteration
the idea that creativity is combinatorial, that nothing is entirely original, that everything builds on what came before, and that we create by taking existing pieces of inspiration, knowledge, skill and insight that we gather over the course of our lives and recombining them into incredible new creations.
Maria Popova • Networked Knowledge and Combinatorial Creativity
Creativity is not a process. creativity is not scripted.
One of the most salient traits of creative visionaries like Walt Disney and Steve jobs is the absence of process.
Process is an organized way of doing things. But they didn’t have a process. They just did the work. No strict adherence to budget or timelines. Just figure things out on the fly.
... See moreGeorge Leonard on how mastery is nothing but a series of plateaus with brief spurts of progress:
“The most important lessons here — especially for young people — is that even if you’re shooting for the stars, you’re going to spend most of your time on a plateau. That’s where the deepest, most lasting learning takes place, so you might as well enjoy... See more
“The most important lessons here — especially for young people — is that even if you’re shooting for the stars, you’re going to spend most of your time on a plateau. That’s where the deepest, most lasting learning takes place, so you might as well enjoy... See more
Brain Food: A Series of Plateaus
Creativity: “I can’t get new ideas staring at a blank page. Creativity, for me, requires motion. When you go on a walk, you can turn your world into an idea-generating sensorium, and ideas will spring up from the most unlikely sources. There is one thing that’s absolutely certain about creativity: It’s an active process, not a passive one. The best... See more
Ryan Hawk • Episode #464: Polina Pompliano – Profiles Of The World’s Greatest Performers, Makers vs. Managers, & Building Trust Through Consistency
One's ability to articulate an idea always lags behind the understanding of the idea, and the understanding of an idea often lags behind the embodiment in which it is first given life. It can take a surprising amount of time to come to understand what a prototype is trying to "say", and longer still to say it oneself.
-Bret Victor
Synthesis as art:
Howard Gardner • A Look Inside “A Synthesizing Mind” by Howard Gardner (Book Summary)
Creativity has two parts:- Creative discovery mode: shuffling things around, exploring. Playful.- Implementation mode: creating something robust and concrete.- Revisit the work the next day in an alert state and assess whether it is ready for linear implementation.
Andrew Huberman • Optimize Your Learning & Creativity with Science-based Tools
It's important to do things fast: You learn more per unit time because you make contact with reality more frequently. Going fast makes you focus on what's important; there's no time for bullshit.